None too old to give organs for life

[okarol]

None too old to give organs for life
By: Frances Stebbins
Posted: Wednesday, April 22, 2009 9:29 am

When my husband Charlie died 13 months ago in a local hospital, I had forgotten that about 25 years ago he had signed a card asking that – with my permission – some of his organs might be used to give life for someone else. That information went on his hospital records.

And so, even as the family made the most preliminary decisions about his cremation and memorial service, I received a call from LifeNet Health, an agency based in Virginia Beach, which handles such donations.

A courteous woman asked me questions over the hospital phone to confirm my permission and to gain further information about my husband's wishes and health. It amazed me that she was confident any of his body could be used, for at 84 it was wasted by the incurable lung condition which had killed him when complicated by a massive stroke.

She assured me that both bone and tissue could be used to bring new mobility to people crippled by accidents. I gladly gave my permission, the cremation later took place and Charlie's ashes rest in our church's columbarium.

But that wasn't my last contact with LifeNet Health.

By the time visitation and memorial service took place, a framed certificate had been prepared and was shown with other mementoes. At intervals over the past year a representative from the agency has called me to ask about how I'm adjusting to my loss and to invite me to take part in several activities which some have found helpful.My own support system kept me busy enough to decline some of these including a decorated tree lighting at Hotel Roanoke before Christmas.

Six months or so into my first year of widowhood LifeNet Health sent an invitation to attend its annual celebration program in mid-April to remember especially those who had died over the past year. Along with the invitation came a request for a picture of my husband and a short statement about him for inclusion in a book of memories.

I bought into this event along with well over 100 other family members from the western part of Virginia. Held at Hunting Hills Country Club, it drew folk from a variety of backgrounds and ages, for death is the supreme leveler. Great-grandchildren were on hand as well as the white-haired. The room was filled for the 90-minute event.

LifeNet has three of these programs each spring, the others being in Richmond and the Tidewater area. They are held to thank families whose permission has been granted for deceased loved ones to donate organs/tissues which may permit other sick people to live.

Do such donations really help? Two persons, a small girl and a middle-aged man, were on the program to prove it, and their appearance was a highlight for those on hand.

The child, Makenzie Blackburn, accompanied by her mother Cindy, was born in 2001 with abnormal intestines, a condition that assured her early death. Kept alive with various heroic measures until April 2003, the toddler then received a small intestine transplant which changed her into a now slim and pretty 7-year-old who with her mother thanked the assembly for what her family regards as her second birthday. Slides were shown of her progress from being hooked to tubes to engaging in a variety of childhood sports and activities.

Tina Pierce, the Roanoke coordinator of the program, said the little girl now has the chance for a good life for many years.

Bob Johnson of Salem says he is "doing very well" after receiving a kidney transplant only six weeks ago. He had been kept alive on dialysis for more than two years, expecting a wait of several more. Still using a cane, he recounted a number of disappointments he and his family had over the past six months as they awaited a suitable transplant. Now that one is in place, he said he already is experiencing new life.

My late husband's nephew, now in his 60s and living in Arlington, has been awaiting a kidney transplant for more than two years. Dialysis keeps him alive and participating in a family business until a donor such as LifeNet promotes gives the right match.

The program concluded with a candlelighting ceremony and the showing of all the pictures we had submitted for the memory book. There indeed was Charlie five years ago in his living room chair with Ginger, our ancient stray cat, upon his lap. My remarks identified him as a news writer whose attachment to me and my cats overcame his true preference for dogs until the "canine grandchild" our son finally brought occasionally to visit.

At home I was struck by the number of young people whose pictures adorned the pages of the memory book. Charlie was the oldest among them with only a few other people born in the 1920s . Infants as young as a few days, many teens – killed no doubt in auto accidents – were among those whose bodies had given a chance for life to someone else.

For those who have lost children of any age it must indeed be some comfort to know that this gift has been left behind.

My children each will get a book to encourage them to sign up too, as I did long ago.

http://ourvalley.org/news.php?viewStory=4115